318	EUROPE FROM 911  TO 1198
1144; his two sons, Baldwin III and Amaury I, succeeded
him in turn. After the death of Amaury in 1174 the line
degenerated, and there were frequent contests for the throne.
But up to that time the kingdom had been fortunate in a
succession of rulers who, within the limits imposed upon
them, proved to be both capable and energetic. The king
had to live of his own, without an adequate domain; much,
therefore, depended on his personality and resource.
The power The barons, importing their Western ideas, imposed a
limitation upon royal authority. The Church, imported too
from the West, constituted almost a rival authority. In land
conquered under its auspices it was natural tKat it should
assume a leading position. A powerful hierarchy was estab-
lished—two patriarchs (of Jerusalem and Antioch), eight
archbishops, and sixteen bishops ; and numerous abbeys and
priories were also founded. It was richly endowed with
lands, and was able constantly to exercise a controlling influ-
ence on the direction of affairs. Nor was the Papacy dis-
interested in the kingdom which it regarded as- under its
special protection and guidance. It was anxious, too, to
keep the crusading spirit alive and to assist the settlers by
reinforcements from the West. There was throughout the
twelfth century a regular flow of crusaders to the Holy Land.
Sometimes this diminished to a mere trickle, occasionally it
reached the dimensions of a flood, to which the title of a
particular Crusade has been given. Grave causes led to
these greater expeditions. For the lesser there were diverse
motives, the pilgrim spirit perhaps the commonest of all,
though this was not infrequently prompted by the spiritual
indulgences which were still the reward of the journey.
There were, however, as before, the landless adventurers,
and there were criminals seeking an escape from justice
and a fresh field for their talents. These new crusaders,
if they avoided the perils of the journey and reached their
goal, were sometimes a welcome addition to the military
strength of the kingdom, and like Fulk of Anjou were enrolled
among its subjects. More often they were a nuisance. The
original crusaders were settling down, imbibing something
of the spirit and culture of the East; the rank and file,
especially in the towns, were intermarrying with the native
population. The new-comers were a disturbing element,